EPR™: A Reactor to Support Economical Fuel Cycles

Author(s):  
S. Zheng ◽  
R. Meinl ◽  
J. Stephens

The EPR™ reactor has been designed by AREVA to support economical fuel cycles. The progress in the reactor and systems design improves the reactor safety, and allows the EPRTM reactor to support the large range of high performance fuel management strategies covering cycle length from 12 to 24 months. Different fuel management strategies with 12, 18 and 24 month cycles are described. Economic analyses are performed to illustrate the low uranium consumption and the high fuel cycle performance compared with the fuel managements implemented in most current traditional PWR reactors.

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 216
Author(s):  
Emanuel A. R. Camacho ◽  
Fernando M. S. P. Neves ◽  
André R. R. Silva ◽  
Jorge M. M. Barata

Natural flight has consistently been the wellspring of many creative minds, yet recreating the propulsive systems of natural flyers is quite hard and challenging. Regarding propulsive systems design, biomimetics offers a wide variety of solutions that can be applied at low Reynolds numbers, achieving high performance and maneuverability systems. The main goal of the current work is to computationally investigate the thrust-power intricacies while operating at different Reynolds numbers, reduced frequencies, nondimensional amplitudes, and mean angles of attack of the oscillatory motion of a NACA0012 airfoil. Simulations are performed utilizing a RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) approach for a Reynolds number between 8.5×103 and 3.4×104, reduced frequencies within 1 and 5, and Strouhal numbers from 0.1 to 0.4. The influence of the mean angle-of-attack is also studied in the range of 0∘ to 10∘. The outcomes show ideal operational conditions for the diverse Reynolds numbers, and results regarding thrust-power correlations and the influence of the mean angle-of-attack on the aerodynamic coefficients and the propulsive efficiency are widely explored.


Author(s):  
Sidik Permana ◽  
Mitsutoshi Suzuki

The embodied challenges for introducing closed fuel cycle are utilizing advanced fuel reprocessing and fabrication facilities as well as nuclear nonproliferation aspect. Optimization target of advanced reactor design should be maintained properly to obtain high performance of safety, fuel breeding and reducing some long-lived and high level radioactivity of spent fuel by closed fuel cycle options. In this paper, the contribution of loading trans-uranium to the core performance, fuel production, and reduction of minor actinide in high level waste (HLW) have been investigated during reactor operation of large fast breeder reactor (FBR). Excess reactivity can be reduced by loading some minor actinide in the core which affect to the increase of fuel breeding capability, however, some small reduction values of breeding capability are obtained when minor actinides are loaded in the blanket regions. As a total composition, MA compositions are reduced by increasing operation time. Relatively smaller reduction value was obtained at end of operation by blanket regions (9%) than core regions (15%). In addition, adopting closed cycle of MA obtains better intrinsic aspect of nuclear nonproliferation based on the increase of even mass plutonium in the isotopic plutonium composition.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (34) ◽  
pp. 13046-13052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pin Liu ◽  
Yunming Li ◽  
Yong-Sheng Hu ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
Liquan Chen ◽  
...  

This study reports a hard carbon material derived from a waste biomass of corn cob and the influence of carbonized temperature on electrochemical performance. This study provides a promising anode material with low cost, high initial coulombic efficiency and excellent cycle performance, making sodium-ion batteries closer to practical applications.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-125
Author(s):  
Vadim Naumov ◽  
Sergey Gusak ◽  
Andrey Naumov

The purpose of the present study is the investigation of mass composition of long-lived radionuclides accumulated in the fuel cycle of small nuclear power plants (SNPP) as well as long-lived radioactivity of spent fuel of such reactors. Analysis was performed of the published data on the projects of SNPP with pressurized water-cooled reactors (LWR) and reactors cooled with Pb-Bi eutectics (SVBR). Information was obtained on the parameters of fuel cycle, design and materials of reactor cores, thermodynamic characteristics of coolants of the primary cooling circuit for reactor facilities of different types. Mathematical models of fuel cycles of the cores of reactors of ABV, KLT-40S, RITM-200M, UNITERM, SVBR-10 and SVBR-100 types were developed. The KRATER software was applied for mathematical modeling of the fuel cycles where spatial-energy distribution of neutron flux density is determined within multi-group diffusion approximation and heterogeneity of reactor cores is taken into account using albedo method within the reactor cell model. Calculation studies of kinetics of burnup of isotopes in the initial fuel load (235U, 238U) and accumulation of long-lived fission products (85Kr, 90Sr, 137Cs, 151Sm) and actinoids (238,239,240,241,242Pu, 236U, 237Np, 241Am, 244Cm) in the cores of the examined SNPP reactor facilities were performed. The obtained information allowed estimating radiation characteristics of irradiated nuclear fuel and implementing comparison of long-lived radioactivity of spent reactor fuel of the SNPPs under study and of their prototypes (nuclear propulsion reactors). The comparison performed allowed formulating the conclusion on the possibility in principle (from the viewpoint of radiation safety) of application of SNF handling technology used in prototype reactors in the transportation and technological process layouts of handling SNF of SNPP reactors.


1996 ◽  
Vol 424 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Bally ◽  
K. Prasad ◽  
R. Sanjinés ◽  
P. E. Schmid ◽  
F. Lévy ◽  
...  

AbstractThe electrical properties of titanium dioxide thin films have been stabilised by cerium doping. These films have a high permittivity between 35 to 45 and withstand 650°C. Multilayer TiO2:Ce/CeO2 insulators have been fabricated. The breakdown voltage is increased by a factor 10 with a modest decrease in the permittivity (30 – 35 instead of 35 – 45).Electroluminescent devices (ELDs) with a classical ZnS:Mn phosphor have been prepared using TiO2:Ce as the first insulator and a TiO2:Ce/CeO2 multilayer as the second insulator. Compared with a standard ELD based on Y2O3 insulators, devices with the new insulators show a significant decrease of the threshold voltage along with a notable increase of the brightness. An important increase is also achieved in the total device efficiency which is maintained over a large range of brightness and transferred charge. Consequences of rapid thermal annealing and conventional thermal treatments on device performance have also been investigated.


Author(s):  
Fabio Oleari ◽  
Dario Lodi Rizzini ◽  
Fabjan Kallasi ◽  
Jacopo Aleotti ◽  
Stefano Caselli

Author(s):  
Pablo C. Florido ◽  
Dari´o Delmastro ◽  
Daniel Brasnarof ◽  
Osvaldo E. Azpitarte

Argentina is performing CAREM X Nuclear System Case Study based on CAREM nuclear reactor and Once Through Fuel Cycle, using SIGMA for enriched uranium production, and a deep geological repository for final disposal of high level waste after surface intermediate storage in horizontal natural convection silos, to verify INPRO (International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles) methodology. Projections show that developing countries could play a crucial role in the deployment of nuclear energy, in the next fifty years. This case study will be highly useful for checking INPRO methodology for this scenario. In this contribution to ICONE 12, the preliminary findings of the Case Study are presented, including proposals to improve the INPRO methodology.


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